Jerry Bailey

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Six talented fillies will contest Saturday's $300,000 Mother Goose (gr. I) at Belmont Park, including the top two finishers from the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), Ashado and Island Sand. The other two legs of the Triple Tiara include the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I) on July 24th, and the $750,000 Alabama (gr. I) on Aug. 21st.

Golden Eagle Farm's Yearly Report rated just off a very soft pace, made her move on the far turn and drew away to win the $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (gr. II), the co-featured event May 14 at Pimlico Race Course.

John D. Gunther's Bending Strings relished a cutback to the seven-furlong distance of the $195,000 Nassau County Breeders' Cup (gr. II) for 3-year-old fillies, drawing away for her first graded stakes victory by 4 3/4 lengths at Belmont Park Saturday.

This year's Kentucky Derby (gr. I) can be broken up into three categories -– Favorites, live longshots, and potential overlays. The favorites are obvious and the longshots will be dealt with at a later date. But if there is one horse who can have bettors pulling their hair out for not having him, it's Wimbledon.

Although the blistering five-furlong works by Smarty Jones and Birdstone dominated the morning activities Saturday, it was the well-conceived plan by Song of the Sword's owner Ernie Paragallo that set several major events in motion.

Long-distance specialist Epicentre emerged from the pack to take the lead in midstretch en route to a decisive victory in the $150,000 Elkhorn Stakes (gr. IIIT) as Keeneland closed its record-breaking 15-day spring meeting Friday.

The moment of truth is at hand, as several Kentucky Derby (gr. I) scenarios are played out over the next couple of days. At Churchill Downs, the biggest activity Friday morning was trying to dodge the rain. But the miserable weather was brightened momentarily by the presence of the unbeaten Smarty Jones.

Juddmonte Farms' Intercontinental, a multiple group one-placed competitor in Europe, won her second straight in the United States Sunday, rolling past the leaders in the final furlong to win the $110,600 Jenny Wiley (gr. IIIT) at Keeneland.

Fountain of Youth (gr. II) winner Read the Footnotes breezed a mile Thursday morning for trainer Richard Violette at the Palm Meadows Training Center, where he continues his preparations for the May 1 Kentucky Derby (gr. I).

Champion Halfbridled will lead a field of eight in Thursday's $250,000 Stonerside Beaumont Stakes (gr. II) at Keeneland. Halfbridled was entered but scratched from the April 3 Ashland Stakes (gr.I) after tying up after a morning gallop.

Last year trainer Bobby Frankel saddled Medaglia d' Oro to win the Oaklawn Handicap (gr. II). This year Frankel hopes Peace Rules, who is listed as even money on the morning-line, can emulate his stablemate's success in Saturday's $500,000 race going 1 1/8-miles.

With plenty of down time left before the flood of Kentucky Derby (gr. I) preps begin on April 3, this is a good opportunity to continue looking for new angles, new faces, and a new perspective on the Derby picture.

The first course is over. It is time to take a deep breath and digest the odd smorgasbord of Kentucky Derby (gr. I) preps that has been laid out so far. Racing fans are starving for something more substantial, and they should get it beginning with the April 3 Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) and Illinois Derby (gr. II).

Marylou Whitney's Birdstone was installed the even-money favorite against 10 rivals for Saturday's Lane's End Stakes (gr. II) at Turfway Park. The 3-year-old son of Grindstone drew post one for the 1 1/8-mile race.

Marylou Whitney Stables' homebred Birdstone, winner of the grade I Champagne Stakes at Belmont last year, is the talk of Turfway leading up to their signature Kentucky Derby (gr. I) prep, Saturday's Lane's End Stakes (gr. II). However, the diminutive son of Grindstone hasn't exactly scared anyone off from the $500,000 race with as many as 14 others considering the race.

Trainer Bobby Frankel is shipping a quartet of runners for Oaklawn Park's Racing Festival of South, including Peace Rules, who will look to defend the trainer's Oaklawn Handicap (gr. II) title. Frankel won the 2003 Oaklawn Handicap with Medaglia d'Oro, who is pointed toward the March 27 Dubai World Cup (UAE-I).

Marylou Whitney's Birdstone, winner of his 3-year-old debut in allowance company, may skip the March 13 Florida Derby and run in the following week's $500,000 Lane's End Stakes (gr. II) at Turfway Park instead, trainer Nick Zito said Monday.

Sarah and Kenneth Ramsey's homebred Kitten's Joy showed off his powerful closing kick to win The $100,000 Palm Beach (gr. IIIT) for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park Saturday and remain unbeaten in four starts on the grass.

Jerry Bailey is racing's version of Starship Enterprise Capt. James T. Kirk, boldly going where no man has gone before. In 2003, he won more stakes (70) in one year than any other rider in history, and his mounts set a single-season earnings mark of $23,354,960. Bailey also established another riding record when he scored his 14th victory in the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships while guiding Six Perfections to the wire first in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT).

Jockey Russell Baze has won the Isaac Murphy Award presented by the National Turf Writers Association for the ninth consecutive year. The award, given to the jockey with the highest winning percentage (with a minimum of 500 mounts) during the year, was inaugurated in 1995 and has been presented to Baze each year since its inception.

Mr. and Mrs. Martin J. Wygod's homebred Delmonico Cat surged to the lead in the final strides to win the $100,000 Honey Fox Handicap (gr. IIIT) for fillies and mares by a half-length Saturday at Gulfstream Park, registering her first career graded stakes victory.

For the second year in a row, jockey Jerry Bailey rode a Kentucky homebred owned by Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey to victory in the $100,000 Tropical Park Derby (gr. IIIT) on New Year's Day at Calder Race Course, guiding Kitten's Joy to an easy victory.

Jockey Jerry Bailey, who has broken his own North American purse earnings record with more than $23.3 million and eclipsed the one-year total for stakes wins, will be aboard a pair of favorites in stakes Saturday at Calder Race Course, where his remarkable 2003 season began.

Jockey Jerry Bailey made quick work of Mike Smith's longstanding record for stakes victories in a season when he guided favored Read the Footnotes to an easy victory in the $200,000 Remsen Stakes (gr. II) for 2-year-olds at Aqueduct.

Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey will wrap up his year in New York on Saturday with a trio of stakes mounts. One behind Mike Smith's record of 68 stakes victories in a year, Bailey will be aboard likely favorites Congaree in the Cigar Mile, Read the Footnotes in the Remsen and Ashado in the Demoiselle.

Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey can set a new North American single season record for stakes wins by a jockey this weekend when he ventures to Calder Race Course in Miami for five stakes mounts on Saturday's big Florida Million card.

After delaying the start by refusing to load into the gate, Flaxman Holdings homebred Six Perfections more than made up for it by storming to the front around the far turn and rolling to victory in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT).